Free Republic

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton got a chilly reception at the nation’s highest court this month, when his office argued against Texas ranchers who were seeking compensation from the state over a Fifth Amendment takings clause issue. The Institute for Justice (IJ), a nonprofit public interest law firm, represented rancher Richie DeVillier in the litigation, who sued after his ranch was repeatedly flooded by a new median wall built by Texas officials along a highway just to the south of his property, which ended up functioning like a dam during hurricanes and other periods of heavy rain. The Fifth Amendment...

The Supreme Court agreed this week to hear a case brought by two Idaho residents who have fought the Environmental Protection Agency for years over a wetland on their property. This isn’t just a simple case of some long-suffering landowners, though; it’s one that is backed by industry interests. And with the Court in an ultra-conservative phase, the case could totally reshape how waterways across the U.S. are protected from pollution. “There’s a range of outcomes [to the case], all of which are bad,” said Dave Owen, a professor of environmental law at the University of Califonia, Hastings. The case...

The Supreme Court on Friday ruled 5-4 to overturn a decades-old precedent on property rights, a decision that marks a victory for conservatives. The previous 1985 ruling found that an individual whose property is taken by a local government cannot file a federal suit under the Fifth Amendment until that challenge fails in state court. But on Friday the justices ruled along ideological lines to reverse that precedent, finding that the requirement “imposes an unjustifiable burden,” conflicts with other similar rulings and “must be overruled.” “A property owner has an actionable Fifth Amendment takings claim when the government takes his...

An FBI agent has been indicted on accusations that he lied about firing at a rancher in 2016 when officers arrested leaders of an armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in rural Oregon. Sources familiar with the case say the agent will face allegations of making a false statement with intent to obstruct justice, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported Tuesday. The indictment stems from more than a yearlong investigation by the U.S. Justice Department inspector general. The agent will be identified when summoned to appear Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Portland. Authorities moved in on Ammon Bundy and other leaders...

President Jacob Zumahas called on parliament to change South Africa’s constitution to allow the expropriation of white owned land without compensation. Mr Zuma, 74, who made the remarks in a speech yesterday/FRI morning, said he wanted to establish a “pre-colonial land audit of land use and occupation patterns” before changing the law. “We need to accept the reality that those who are in parliament where laws are made, particularly the black parties, should unite because we need a two-thirds majority to effect changes in the constitution,” he said. Mr Zuma, who has lurched from one scandal to another since being...

In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court on Thursday, he is arguing that the EPA overstepped its authority in the case. Wyoming rancher Andy Johnson believes a man’s land is a man’s land to use wisely. That’s why he built a stock pond for his animals and his family. The federal Environmental Protection Agency wants to teach Johnson a $16 million lesson in obedience to its will. But Johnson is fighting back. In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court on Thursday, he is arguing that the EPA overstepped its authority in the case. “This goes a...

When Andy and Katie Johnson built a pond on their property in 2011 to provide water for their cattle, they never dreamed it would result in threats of $75,000 a day in fines from the Environmental Protection Agency. The Johnsons believed they had done everything necessary to get permission for the pond, where the tiny Six Mile Creek runs through their property south of Fort Bridger, Wyo. The Wyoming State Engineer's Office provided the permit and even stated in an April 4, 2013 letter to the Johnsons: "All of the legal requirements of the State Engineer's Office, that were your...

For a few days, Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy was a heroic figure to a great many conservatives. Then, overnight, he became a pariah. There were some people, aside from Harry Reid, who suggested he should have to ring a little bell whenever he went out in public and announce his presence by repeating, “Unclean! Unclean!” Now I grant that there was no good reason for him to open his yap about the urban blacks residing in North Las Vegas, just as there was no reason for those two Republican knuckleheads running for the Senate in 2012 to shoot off their...

Dozens of people rode their ATVs and motorcycles on an off-limits trail in southern Utah on Saturday in a protest against what the group calls the federal government's overreaching control of public lands. San Juan County Sheriff Rick Eldredge said from 40 to 50 people, many of them waving American flags and some carrying weapons, drove about a mile down Recapture Canyon

Faced with a group of farmers refusing to give up their land for a housing project, the Communist Party officials negotiating the deal devised a solution: They went to a bank, opened accounts in the names of the holdouts and deposited what they decided was fair compensation. Then they took the land. The farmers, angry at the sum and now forced to compete for jobs in a stuttering economy, blocked the main road connecting the capital to the north of the country for one day in December. In a macabre gesture, some clambered into coffins. Police who came to break...

Two measures OKd by Gov. Gary R. Herbert would allow use of eminent domain to take valuable sites. A long court fight is likely. Supporters hope the bills, which the Republican governor signed Saturday, will trigger a flood of similar legislation throughout the West and, eventually, a U.S. Supreme Court battle that it hopes to win -- against long odds. More than 60% of Utah is owned by the U.S. government, and policy makers complain that federal ownership hinders their ability to generate tax revenue and adequately fund public schools... Initially, the state would target three areas, including the Kaiparowits...

Orick CA: The Rural Cleansing of America (Joining The Ranks With Klamath Falls) Donald C. Amador - Blue Ribbon Coalition ORICK, CA. July 1, 2001 -- "It isn't about threatened and endangered species. It isn't about water for the fish. It's about control," Helen Franklin told a crowd of patriotic Americans gathered in protest of the National Park Service during an Independence Day rally in Orick, California. "Whoever controls food production and water usage in this country will control the people." Franklin, founder of United Coalitions for a Constitutional Government, added, "What has happened in Orick is not an isolated ...

JOHN DAY -- Ranchers and environmentalists have locked horns over cattle grazing for years. Now a battered economy and a looming court decision are fueling a full-on battle in Grant County. On one side, ranchers and the county chairman say proposed grazing limits could deal a knockout punch to more than a dozen cattle operations and, because of job losses and lost tax revenue, county social services.On the other side, an environmental group says wild steelhead are in decline because of stream bank damage caused by grazing cattle. "The mood here is not good," says Mark Webb, chairman of...

China’s Other Bitter Harvest by: Heather Latham, April 14, 2009 In China there is a serious divide between those that live in urban areas and those that live in rural areas, according to a study by Roy Prosterman, Chair Emeritus, Rural Development Institute, and Zhu Keliang, East Asia Program Manager, Rural Development Institute. Prosterman and Zhu explained their study at a Cato Institute event on April 6. They argued that the way to find economic stability and growth for farmers in these rural areas is “secure, long-term land rights.” Prosterman started by comparing Chinese farmers to those in other countries...

The continuing war of words over the controversy surrounding the possibility of dam removal on the Klamath River escalated March 17, as the Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors sent a letter of response to California Resources Agency natural resources secretary Mike Chrisman. The letter was in reply to Chrisman’s threat to end support for the county’s participation in the process of looking into the status of four hydroelectric dams and the effects of their possible removal on the river system and the local economy.

Issue: Having been slapped down by the U. S. Supreme Court’s recent decision that the words “navigable waters” in the Clean Water Act limited federal agencies to regulation of navigable waters only. Democrats and liberal Republicans in Congress are striking back. They are attempting to pass the Clean Water Restoration Act of 2007 (HR2421 and S1870) that would amend the 1972 Clean Water Act and replace the words “navigable waters” with “waters of the United States.” Further, it defines "waters of the United States" with such breathtaking scope that federal agencies would be required to regulate use of every square...

WASHINGTON - Two East Coast lawmakers introduced a bill Friday with 73 co-sponsors that would designate as wilderness 23 million public acres in five Northern Rocky Mountain states, including Montana and Wyoming. Reps. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and Christopher Shays, R-Conn., wrote the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act. It would give the government's strongest protections to areas of Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. They announced the measure along with songstress Carole King. Three co-sponsors are from Washington and three from Oregon. Both Montana and Wyoming's representatives condemned the bill and vowed to fight it. Similar measures have been introduced in...

An environmental-law expert, Brooks won landmark victories against arbitrary regulations Bellevue, Washington; February 27, 2007: It is with sorrow that Pacific Legal Foundation reports that Principal Attorney Russell C. Brooks, managing attorney of PLF’s Pacific Northwest Office in Bellevue, Washington, passed away of a sudden heart attack on Sunday, February 25. He was 41. “PLF has lost a valued friend and a superb attorney, and America has lost one of the leading courtroom defenders of constitutional property rights, limited government, and a balanced approach to environmental protection,” said Rob Rivett, PLF’s president. Arguably the best-known public-interest lawyer in the Pacific...

MADISON, WI (AP) -- Bag a doe before a buck? Heaven forbid. Stop feeding deer in the backyard? No way. Delay a construction project because an endangered snake might slink by? Ridiculous. Over the last four years, the Republican-controlled Legislature has butted heads with the state Department of Natural Resources on everything from deer hunting to snakes - scaling back the agency's regulations and lambasting its officials as heavy-handed. That all could change come January. Democrats wrestled back control of the state Senate in this month's election. The GOP still controls the state Assembly, but the DNR, controlled by Democratic...

News Release from TxDOT:TTC-35 will be 10 miles wide.Response: No. If federally approved, the study area would be 10 miles wide. Then, additional studies would be conducted within the 10-mile wide study area to identify a final route. If roads, rail and a utility corridor are located adjacent to each other, TTC-35 would be no more than 1,200 feet wide. Also, where existing roads and railways can be incorporated, the amount of right of way needed would be less.TxDOT already knows the location of the project and will direct Cintra Zachry where to build it.Response: No. The location of TTC-35...